


Plausible Deniability

by Nemainofthewater



Series: plausible deniability [1]
Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Angst, Don't copy to another site, Fix-It, Gen, Hope, Penny fixes everything, Plausible Deniability, Spoilers, post 4x13
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 06:42:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18516007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nemainofthewater/pseuds/Nemainofthewater
Summary: “I forgot what a moron you are, Coldwater,” he growls.“Wait what?” Quentin says, “Aren’t you meant to be comforting me and like, escorting me to the other side or something.”“Trust me,” Penny says, “I only have your best interests at heart. I take my job very seriously.”Post finale fix-it.





	Plausible Deniability

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Правдоподобное отрицание](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19964362) by [fandom_The_Magicians_2019](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandom_The_Magicians_2019/pseuds/fandom_The_Magicians_2019), [IryStorm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IryStorm/pseuds/IryStorm)



> I stupidly watched the finale this morning before work and have been sad all day. I'm probably going to be posting a few fics to deal.

“Welcome to the Underworld,” Penny says.

 

And fuck. Quentin knows that he did something stupid, something that he shouldn’t have. It happened so quickly. He didn’t know what he was doing. There was no other choice.

 

(That’s what he tells himself. Convinces himself. Because the truth? The truth is that it felt like he’d been moving through molasses. He remembers every single second of it. And he doesn’t care. It’s been hard to care about things for a while now.)

 

“I can see that you’re overwhelmed. That’s totally normal,” Penny says, “But don’t worry Quentin. I’ll _help you out_.”

 

Quentin stumbles out of the elevator. It’s… he doesn’t think he can process anything right now. But he’s glad: glad that there’s at least one familiar face.

 

“What-” he asks, voice cracking, “What happens now?”

 

“Now?” Penny says, “Now I bring you to Secrets Taken to the Grave. And we talk.”

 

They walk in silence. The Underworld branch of the Library is quietly bustling, sombrely clad librarians escorting souls. Some of them look happy. Others are crying. Some, like Quentin, are in a state of shock.

 

“I’m sorry that you’re down here so early Quentin,” Penny says as they come to a door, “I mean… just as you saved Eliot as well.”

 

“Eliot’s alive?” Quentin asks hoarsely, swallowing. Because… the last time he had seen him, Eliot had been bleeding out. Bleeding out with no magic, no access to a proper hospital, and in a body already weakened by months of possession on top of sleep-deprivation, withdrawal and whatever else the Monster decided to put it through.

 

Penny looks at him, and his face softens.

 

“Yeah Q,” he says, “Eliot’s fine. I mean not fine fine, but he’ll survive.”

 

“Thank god,” Quentin says, the first hint of feeling breaking through the apathy plaguing his thoughts.

 

Because he’d thought… looking at all of that blood pouring out of Eliot’s side he’d thought that everything he’d done and suffered for had been for nothing.

 

“Everyone’s fine,” Penny says, still stupidly gentle, “They all survived. Everyone but…”

 

“Me,” Quentin says.

 

Penny ushers him into the room and shuts the door behind him. He fiddles with something behind him, and then hands Quentin a mug. It smells sickly sweet, steam rising.

 

“It’s a bit hot,” Penny says, “You probably want to let it cool.”

 

Quentin places the mug down on the table beside him. He isn’t really hungry or thirsty: hasn’t been for a while.

 

Penny sits down across from him, and smiles. It’s a professional, practiced thing.

 

“A bit more private,” he says, “No one can come in or out while the room is occupied. And of course, anything you say is completely confidential.”

 

Quentin snorts. Penny is acting more like his therapist than the Traveller that Quentin knows. Kind words, soft touches, understanding silences… Not really on brand for Penny 40. Or 23 for that matter. Maybe death had changed him though.

 

“Completely private,” Penny repeats, “Not even Hades himself knows what goes on in here.”

 

“I get it man,” Quentin says, “I’m free to spill my feelings or whatever.”

 

Penny rolls his eyes at him, looking a lot more like the old Penny.

 

“I forgot what a moron you are, Coldwater,” he growls.

 

“Wait what?” Quentin says, “Aren’t you meant to be comforting me and like, escorting me to the other side or something.”

 

“Trust me,” Penny says, “I only have your best interests at heart. I take my job very seriously.”

 

He takes a deep breathe, and stares Quentin straight in the eyes. When he speaks it’s slowly and clearly, as if he were talking to a particularly slow child: “After all,” he says, “It’s important to be properly guided through the Underworld. It’s so easy to get _lost_ down here. We recently had a soul escape.”

 

“What are you saying?” Quentin asks. His heart is pounding, and it’s ridiculous that he’s dead and he still feels like he’s on the verge of a panic attack.

 

“I’m saying that sometimes souls just get lost. And I wouldn’t want that to happen to you. So, after we’re done here, I need you to stay away from the second corridor to the right, three doors down. Because that’s a restricted area.”

 

Penny… can’t be saying what Quentin thinks he is, can he?

 

“But I mean,” Quentin says, “Do you know what happened to the soul? Wouldn’t they just get eternally lost in the Underworld or something?”

 

“No,” Penny says, “Because I heard that this soul, although he was a fucking self-sacrificing idiot, had friends. Pretty great friends that honestly, I’m not sure he deserved. Maybe even inside help: how else would he have known that as soon as you eat or drink anything in the Underworld, then you can’t leave?”

 

His eyes flick to the abandoned hot chocolate and back to Quentin’s face. Pointedly.

 

“Plus,” he says, “The soul managed to get a message out to the rest of his friends upstairs. The made him a new body out of living clay and managed to guide his spirit back into it. Used some weird ass spell from Dee’s Grimoire. Page 654. I hear he had a real bond with one of them that helped him communicate with them. Spent a lifetime together or some shit like that.”

 

“Oh?” Quentin says as casually as he can manage. From the look on Penny’s face, it really isn’t that convincing.

 

“Yeah. Used the phone in the front office while the reference librarian was on a break. His mandatory 10-minute break every four hours.”

 

“Huh,” Quentin says, “And did he manage? To get back to his friends, I mean?”

 

Penny shrugs.

 

“I dunno,” he says, “We haven’t heard anything from him recently: he’s been keeping his head down, not causing any disturbances.”

 

Penny stands abruptly.

 

“Well,” he says, “I can see that you need a bit more time to come to grips with everything, so I’ll give you a moment alone. Remember Q, don’t leave the room.”

 

He turns to leave.

 

“Penny?” Quentin calls out, “I. Thanks.”

 

Penny nods at him.

 

“Just doing my job,” he says. And then he leaves.

 

Quentin gives him to the count of ten. And then, slowly and carefully, he cracks open the door and leaves the room.

**Author's Note:**

> I am on Tumblr as [Nemainofthewater ](https://nemainofthewater.tumblr.com)


End file.
